Chris Taylor’s metamorphosis from a middle infielder who had been unable to establish himself in the majors – to an offensive catalyst and starting center fielder on the National League champions was one of the best storylines of the Dodgers’ 2017 season. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Chris Taylor’s metamorphosis from a middle infielder who had been unable to establish himself in the majors – to an offensive catalyst and starting center fielder on the National League champions was one of the best storylines of the Dodgers’ 2017 season. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

Chris Taylor’s metamorphosis from a middle infielder who had been unable to establish himself in the majors – to an offensive catalyst and starting center fielder on the National League champions was one of the best storylines of the Dodgers’ 2017 season. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Orange County Register/SCNG)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chris Taylor arrived at spring training this year with two things he has never had before.

A guaranteed major-league job. And expectations.

Taylor’s metamorphosis from a middle infielder with a ‘4-A’ label – good enough to succeed at Triple-A but unable to establish himself in the majors – to an offensive catalyst and starting center fielder on the National League champions was one of the best storylines of the Dodgers’ 2017 season.

A transformation like that would cause some to sit back with pride this past winter and skeptics to question whether he can replicate it a second time.

Taylor did neither.

“Once it was all said and done, it was nice to reflect on my good season. I think that’s good for everyone to do,” he said. “But you can’t sit back on it too long. At the same time, you have to keep moving forward, get better. The game makes adjustment to players real fast.

“Yeah, it’s nice to not have the pressure of having to perform from Day One. You can kind of ease your way into it. It’s definitely comforting to have that security. But at the same time, I think the competitive side of everyone gets you. … I already feel like I’m grinding it out in the cage because my swing doesn’t feel right. That side is always going to be there.”

There were moments last year when it looked like the feel-good story of Taylor’s breakout season might be taking a downward turn. He lost 30 points off his average to a 14-for-69 slide in June then ended the season on a 10-for-53 slide.

Opposing pitchers seemed to challenge him less, feeding him fewer fastballs and searching for the flaws in this new Taylor. In both cases, though, Taylor blames himself more than he credits the opposition.

“I’m not sure about what the percentages of the pitches were,” he said when it was theorized he saw fewer fastballs as his OPS and profile increased. “Maybe I got a little more pitches out of the zone and I think I got a little overly aggressive. Now when I set my sights more towards the middle of the plate and kind of zoned in a little bit – I did that maybe a week before the playoffs and that’s when I started hitting more again.”

With Corey Seager still working through a rehab program for his elbow problem, Taylor has seen action at shortstop this spring. But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he expects Taylor to be in center field on a regular basis and batting leadoff. Roberts is “very confident” that the production the Dodgers got from Taylor last season is the same production he will provide this season. Last year, Taylor was among the top three on the team in runs (85), hits (148), batting average (.288), on-base percentage (.354) and slugging percentage (.496).

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“There’s certain things mechanically and a mindset of a player, certainly in my opinion, that play,” Roberts said. “I can’t predict how his numbers ultimately are going to be. But I know where he’s at mentally, physically, mechanically – that’ll play and it’ll be somewhat comparable to last season.”

Roberts acknowledged that opposing teams will approach Taylor with more caution this season, focusing more of their game-planning on him than they might have in the past. But that cat-and-mouse game “already played out” last season.

“The bottom line is he has the ability to swing at strikes and take balls,” Roberts said. “So whatever adjustment a team is going to make on how to attack him – or any player – if you have that ability then you give yourself a pretty good chance.”

HILL THROWS

Left-hander Rich Hill has yet to pitch in a Cactus League game but he did throw three simulated innings to hitters on one of the minor-league fields Wednesday morning.

“I just think for Rich to be able to control the environment. He wants to face a certain number of hitters,” Roberts said of the decision to throw to minor-leaguers. “On the major-league side, whether it be pitch count or something like that, we might have to take him out and he doesn’t get to see as many hitters. We wanted more of a controlled environment.”

Hill has joked about his poor results in previous springs but he is likely to pitch in a Cactus League game next. Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu (who was scratched from his scheduled start Wednesday due to illness) are the only members of the projected starting rotation yet to pitch in a Cactus League game.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.

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